


'teach a girl to fish'

by MadeNightwing



Series: 'learning as you go' [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Basically I want Emerald and Mercury to retire somewhere quiet and enjiy themselves, F/M, Learning To Hunt, Past Abuse, Recovery, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27042493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadeNightwing/pseuds/MadeNightwing
Summary: Weeks of travelling, of running away from their pasts. Living hand to mouth. By Mercury's hand. Emerald couldn't live like that, not again. Something had to change.
Relationships: Mercury Black/Emerald Sustrai
Series: 'learning as you go' [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076258
Comments: 7
Kudos: 52





	'teach a girl to fish'

‘Eat.’

Emerald was shaken from her thoughts by the voice, touch and smell all at once. The smell of the trout, baked over hot coals with wild onions and rosemary. The touch of a man’s hand against her shoulder, lighter and more tender than she ever thought its owner was capable of.

She looked up to meet Mercury’s eyes, the morning sunlight shining off his grey irises. He held one of the flat rocks he’d used to cook the breakfast, two fat fish giving off a savoury aroma that tickled her nostrils and made her salivate on reflex. His own portion lay behind him, only a single fish but with a mess of wild herbs and fruits piled beside it.

‘I’m not hungry.’

The angry growl of her stomach made a liar out of her almost instantly. Mercury’s lips twitched and she scowled. He was going to do it again. Tease, make fun of her, try and get her so angry at him that she’d forget where they were. What had happened. Two days ago she’d been so cross that she ate all of the clams he’d gathered just to spite him. He hadn’t seemed to mind. In fact he’d been downright cheerful that she’d eaten so much.

‘Are you sure I can’t interest you in some _trout ala Mercury_?’ He waved the makeshift plate in front of her again. ‘I made it extra crispy, just how you like it.’

He always made everything just how she liked it. Months now they’d been on the run. Weeks at a time when she’d been so detached from reality she was barely able to walk, let alone feed herself. Some days he’d carried her. Others he’d had to slowly spoon a special honey and milk mixture into her mouth just to get nutrients into her body. When her senses returned, the humiliation of it had buried any stirrings of gratitude. She’d turned up her nose at his improvised meals, making petty demands, refusing to eat unless it was fresher or more tender.

She’d been astonished at his compliance.

Cinder was dead. For certain this time. There would be no miraculous survival. No second return to Salem’s good graces. There would have to be a Salem for that. Nothing tied them together anymore. The whole world was so busy celebrating that no one was thinking to search for Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai.

It wouldn’t last. Sooner or later someone would realise that two of the culprits for Beacon’s fall had escaped their reckoning. There might have been no more Grimm, but there were still huntsmen and huntresses aplenty. Someone would want revenge sooner or later. Mercury might have been confident that they could live out here in the wild forever, Emerald was less certain.

‘Please, you need to keep your strength up.’ Mercury placed the food in her lap, then stepped back to his own. ‘It’s three weeks on foot till we reach the southern provinces.’

‘And then what?’ Emerald poked at the fish, picking up a few morsels on the end of a rough wooden fork. Her hunger over came her reluctance, the rich flavour of the trout too quickly passing over her tongue in sudden haste to devour as much as possible.

‘Then we blend into the background. There’s a lot of wanted people down there. People who want a chance at a new life. We’d fit right in.’

‘Or get turned in for the bounty.’

Mercury paused, his mouth full of fish. The flash of guilt over his face told Emerald he’d likely already thought of it.

‘Then we stick to the woods,’ he said gamely. ‘I could build us a cabin somewhere warm, near fresh water. It won’t be much to start with, but I could trade meat and hides for what we need to make it comfortable. Winters will be harsh at first, but I could get us the furs and firewood we need to…’

‘While I what? Keep house?’

His mouth snapped shut, the inanity of his own words seemingly catching up with his brain. She had thought herself a master illusionist, but apparently Merc was capable of generating those all by himself. There would be no cabin by the lake. There would be no comfortable existence for either of them.

Mercury had looked out for her the first time Cinder fell. He and Hazel had carried her back to safety. He had helped her to train, to get stronger for the fighting yet to come. But it hadn’t been enough. _She_ had not been enough. She’d been weak. She was still weak.

‘I don’t want to go south,’ Emerald said. She never had, really. The only reason she was still moving in that direction was because Mercury was leading the way and she had no contradicting thoughts on the matter.

His food lay forgotten on his lap now, his eyes narrowed and his shoulders hunched. A defensive posture, like she’d threatened him. It set her own teeth on edge. ‘Where, then?’

‘Back to Mistral.’

‘To turn yourself in?’

Was that what he was worried about? That she’d rat him out? What would he do if that _was_ her plan?

‘No,’ she said. It was the truth. ‘With Lionheart gone and the Mistral Council in shambles the gangs have set themselves up as the new powerbrokers. I could find work. Stay alive.’

Mercury didn’t unwind. Was there more to it? What could he be worried about if she wasn’t planning on turning him in? His hands still balled in fists, he looked away from her. Not for the first time she wished she still had her weapons. Her pistols and his greaves had both been destroyed in the fighting or lost when they fled. He carried the only weapon they had between them, a bow that he’d stolen from a hunting lodge once they’d made it away from any major settlements.

‘I don’t think you should go to Mistral,’ Mercury said. The words were halting, like he hated saying them but couldn’t avoid them. ‘Sooner or later someone will recognise you.’

‘Then I’ll change my appearance. Blend into the background. Avoid standing out.’

‘And what, make a living doing grunt work for gangs?’

‘What choice do I have?’ Emerald snapped. She held up the remains of her breakfast. ‘Maybe I won’t be comfortable, but at least I’ll be able to eat! I won’t wake up each morning and wonder where my next meal is coming from.’

He stared at her food, then his own. It really never occurred to him, did it? He had no clue what it was like to go hungry. Really hungry. Not just his asshole dad withholding a couple of meals, but not to eat at all for days because the soup kitchens were out of money and there was a gang of bigger kids picking the rubbish clean before she could get to it. Not Mercury Black. The well trained Mercury Black. The self-sufficient Mercury Black.

Mercury Black could fish, snare, hunt, butcher his kills and knew which forest plants were edible and which were poison. He could start a fire with damp wood and no tinder. He, apparently, could even build a log cabin and insulate it with hides and furs. And he seemed to have no clue just how lucky he was to have those skills. His dad may have beaten them into him, but Emerald would have taken a thousand beatings to avoid her stomach aching again.

‘I could…take care of you.’ Mercury finally said. ‘I’ll make sure that there’s always food.’

_Follow me, and you’ll never go hungry again…_

‘No.’ She spat the word so sharply that Mercury flinched away. ‘I don’t want to be fed by anyone. Not you, not Hazel, not…not _her_.’

Merc’s head lowered. The fight had gone out of him quickly. It always did these days, especially when she yelled at him. He’d never cowed like this before. It unnerved her almost as much her dependence on him.

When he finally looked up, his eyes were flat and his expression steady. ‘What if I taught you?’

‘Taught me what?’

‘How to feed yourself. With hunting. With foraging.’

‘I know how to…’

Merc cut her off with a shake of his head. ‘You know how to trap rabbits. But if you try living on rabbits then you’ll die sooner rather than later. They’re too lean, not enough fat. You need fish. Vegetables. Venison is best.’

‘I can get all of that.’ She said it with far more confidence than she felt. From Mercury’s expression he believed it about as much as she did.

‘It’s at least a week of solid walking back the way we came to find a train station,’ he pointed out. ‘You’ll need food. I could come with you to Mistral?’

‘Do you want to go to Mistral.’

‘No.’

‘Then don’t.’ The words made her feel anger in strange, irrational places. ‘I’ll do just fine without you.’

‘I’m not saying you won’t, I just…’ He broke off, mumbling something under his breath as he looked away.

‘You just what?’

‘I don’t want you to go hungry!’

Emerald didn’t know who was more surprised by his outburst. She’d seen him open before. Vulnerable. But that was only when his anger overwhelmed his calm, or when she’d been on the brink of death. This was different. She couldn’t name, but it was different. His cheeks were flushed, but not with rage. His breathing was heavy, but he hadn’t yelled. Had he ever shouted at her? She couldn’t recall.

When he finally looked up, his eyes were still and clouded. ‘Em…Cinder got her hooks in us because we were desperate. And we did horrible things. For her. For Salem. Some of those things…I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for them.’

Emerald swallowed, the flames of Beacon swimming before her eyes. The screaming of students cut down by the White Fang or chewed up by Grimm. So many lives…so much blood on her hands…

‘But I’m done with that,’ Mercury’s voice had a new steel to it. ‘I’m never going back. I’m not going to hurt anyone ever again. I don’t think you want to, either.’

‘I don’t want to,’ she agreed, frustration bleeding through despite her best efforts. ‘But what else can I do? I can’t survive out here like you can.’

‘I know. So let me teach you.’ He had offered again. Maybe he really did want her to be independent? Cinder had certainly never made such an offer. Cinder had preferred Emerald to be quiet and compliant. It had taken time for Emerald to finally see it, but Cinder had never wanted an equal partnership. She had wanted a servant.

Mercury did not.

\-----------------------------------

_‘Start at the water.’_

Emerald picked her way carefully through the shrubs along the river’s edge. The boots Mercury had stolen for her were designed for this kind of work, the soles soft enough not squeak or scrape and give her away.

_‘A deer has sharp senses. It will hear you and smell you long before you see it, so stay downwind.’_

The breeze on her cheeks was all the proof she needed.

_‘Animals set patterns. They can’t avoid it. They’ll always be drawn to the best water, to the freshest grass. The best huntress is the one who picks the time and the place and lets their prey trap themselves.’_

Like Cinder had done to her. Hunger drove everything. Hunger and the need to belong. She’d thought she belonged with Cinder. Too late she’d realised that she belonged _to_ her. That was why she couldn’t go with Mercury. Why she couldn’t allow him to continue taking care of her. Sooner or later there’d be a price tag attached. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not a month from now. It had been six months before Cinder had ever asked for something that hurt to give.

She could have said no. But that would have meant an end to the meals. The clothes. The soft bed and warm blankets. She’d been afraid.

There were differences. Mercury couldn’t provide expensive meals. Some days he couldn’t even find meat. Their clothes were stolen, the bed was the ground. And all he wanted was to get as far south as possible and build his little cabin by a lake.

For now.

Emerald saw the buck by one of the side streams that fed into the main river. It drank from the crystal blue water without a care, quenching its thirst in the cool shade of the late afternoon.

The bow in her hand travelled halfway up, her hand reaching for an arrow.

_‘Don’t just take the first shot available. A big buck is hard to bring down unless you hit close to the heart. Take your time. Get close. You only need one arrow if you do it right.’_

One arrow. That was all it would take to prove her independence. Not to him, but to her. One clean shot and she was free. Not just from Merc, or from Cinder, but from anyone who wanted to control her. Whether in the city or the forest, her meals would be provided at her own hands.

She could say goodbye to him. She could have cursed the treacherous part of her that ached in protest at the notion. It was just familiarity speaking, some tribal urge that resisted the need to be on her own. She couldn’t and shouldn’t trust him. Just like she should not have trusted Cinder.

But…

Cinder hadn’t wanted Emerald to leave and she’d made sure that Emerald wouldn’t have the means. She’d never given her more lien than immediately necessary, more food than for a day or two, more clothes beyond one or two outfits. All those things came from one source alone, and it could be turned off at any time.

Mercury didn’t want her to leave, either. But he was giving her everything she needed to leave him behind for good.

Because he didn’t want her to go hungry.

She could miss. On purpose. By accident. Claim she needed more time to work on her archery. On her tracking. They could still

Part of her wondered if he really would look after her forever. If all she needed to do was simply be there and he would care for her. Provide for her. Build her a log cabin by a lake and wrap her in furs during the winter months.

It was a heady notion. Two years ago she would have jumped at it.

Never again.

The arrow struck the buck with a quiet thud, the animal falling in mid-stride with the shaft transfixed through its heart. It kicked a few times, then lay completely still.

‘I…did it…’ Emerald took a few paces toward her kill, her heart beating anxiously as she saw the animal’s head twitch one final time. ‘

‘Never doubted you for a second,’ Merc said from behind her. He was grinning, eyes bright and arms folded.

He was proud of her, Emerald realised with a start. She’d helped Cinder bring down a kingdom without so much as a word of heartfelt praise. But Merc was looking at her like she’d pieced the moon back together just for bringing down a buck.

And she was grinning right back.

‘I had a good teacher.’

Merc’s smile broadened for a second. Not his usual smirk or arrogant grin. It was strange how it changed his face. Someone more sentimental might have waxed about how it made him more handsome, but that wasn’t it. She’d never found his good looks to be appealing beyond simple aesthetics.

His grins. His smirks. His arrogant quips. It was all illusion. His smile was real. And so was hers.

Was that why it hurt when he stopped?

‘I guess that’s it, then,’ he said. ‘That’s more than enough meat to get you well on the way to Mistral.’

‘I guess there is.’

‘Well…good luck.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, you too.’

The glade fell silent but for the chirping of birds, grey eyes meeting red without another word spoken. Emerald wondered if he would say something. More than that, she realised, she _wanted_ him to say something.

‘Well, good luck, Em.’ Merc held out his hand. ‘I’m sure we’ll…well, I’m sure you’ll do great in Mistral.’

She hadn’t wanted him to say that.

He was turning to leave when she found her own voice. ‘Merc!’

He froze, head tilting back toward her in sudden expectation.

‘Could you…’ Emerald swallowed a sudden surge of nervous bile. ‘Would you…we still need to butcher it, right?’

‘Right, right!’ She pretended not to notice the relief in his words. ‘And maybe we could have one last meal for the road, right?’

‘One last meal,’ she agreed. ‘For old time’s sake.’

\------------------------------------

They feasted on venison backstrap fried on a hot stone with sage and wild mushrooms. It was a far cry from some of the elaborate meals they had shared as Cinder’s underlings. There was no wine, only fresh water shared from the same battered tin mug.

But _Emerald_ was the one responsible for it. Sure, Merc had helped dress the kill, and she’d still needed him to help her find edible mushrooms and seasoning. But she had tracked and stalked the deer. She had made the kill.

She could be on her own now. Independent. Self-sufficient. Relying on no one but herself for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

But now that she could, the impetus to do so was…lacking. After all, why eke out a living as a gangster under a boss when she could be her own mistress out here in the wild?

Why huddle around a meagre fire for warmth in the city, when there was a roaring pile of crackling logs in front of her, and Mercury’s warm body behind her. She wasn’t sure how she’d gone from sitting next to him, leaning against a fallen tree, to slowly draping herself over his lean frame.

She’d never felt so bold before. Or so confident.

‘A cabin, you said?’ Emerald snuggled deeper into his chest. She felt him tense for a moment, taken off guard by the sudden move. Then, ever so slowly, he moved his hand around her waist, his palm resting on her stomach and guiding her to a more comfortable position.

‘Yeah. Pine logs would be best,’ The rumble of his chest against her shoulders was an oddly pleasant feeling, accompanying as it did the fullness of her stomach and the warmth of the fire.

She yawned, bringing his right hand around to meet his left, fully supporting her weight against his chest. ‘Tell me more about it.’

‘Well…I should find a lake or a river. Somewhere high enough to avoid flash-flooding but low enough that I won’t get hit with snow too often.’

‘You’ll need a lot of furs for winter.’

‘I can trade for what I need.’

‘Will you have to trade for a bed?’

‘I can build a bed for myself. I know a bit about joinery, too.’

‘Can you teach me?’

His body stiffened again. He wouldn’t be able to see her smile, she knew, but it was there.

‘That might…that might take a while.’ She couldn’t see his smile, but she knew it was there. ‘A few weeks at least.’

‘I guess I’ll just have to stick with you for that long then.’

‘We’ll be getting further away from Mistral. Maybe too far to make it back by winter.’

‘Hmm, maybe you could help me build my own log cabin? Just across from yours.’

‘It might be more efficient just to build one large cabin?’

‘It might be,’ she agreed. ‘Maybe I could get you to keep house for me while I go out and hunt?’

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Can’t let you just laze around like you’ve been doing.’

Emerald bumped his leg lightly. ‘Ass.’

He gave a light squeeze of his arms. ‘I know.’

‘It sounds nice, though.’ It truly did. A cabin by a lake, built with their own hands. Far away from bounty takers or vengeful huntresses. Fresh food that they hunted or grew themselves. A fireplace to keep them warm during the long winter nights. And…Merc’s arms were warm too…

‘Go to sleep, Em.’ Mercury murmured in her ear. She was already fading away, a calm she’d never known wrapping around her like a blanket. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’

‘I’d better,’ she whispered back. ‘You’d better be here.’

Soft lips pressed to the top of her head. ‘For as long as you want me.’

**Author's Note:**

> I was musing about power dynamics in relationships while I wrote this. About making the person you love powerful for their own sake. Hope it came through in the text. Please enjoy.


End file.
